10 CPT: 12TH GENERAL REPORT Meetings and working methods 11. The CPT held three plenary sessions (in March, July and November) during 2001. During a typical plenary week, the full Committee meets from Tuesday morning until late Friday afternoon. The Monday - and increasingly part of Sunday -is devoted to meetings of delegations (for the preparation of future visits) and of other sub-groups, such as the medical group and the working groups entrusted with reviewing the CPT’s working methods and with monitoring the evolution of its jurisprudence. The working party subsequently proposed the introduction of a system of “advisers”, based on members volunteering to take a specific interest in particular countries. This proposal was accepted by the CPT at its November 2001 meeting, in the form of a pilot project for a limited number of countries. The precise modalities of the adviser system are currently being worked out; further information will be provided in the 13th General Report. Practically the only internal CPT meetings held outside the framework of plenary sessions are those of visiting delegations to examine draft reports and the regular inter-plenary Bureau meeting. 14. In April 2001, CPT representatives held wideranging talks in Moscow with the Russian authorities, in order to reinforce the ongoing dialogue on matters falling within the Committee’s mandate. Further talks took place in Moscow in November 2001, focussed on the CPT’s activities in relation to the Chechen Republic. 12. The CPT adopted 14 reports (covering 15 visits) during 2001: on visits to Albania, Germany, Moldova (Transnistrian region), the Russian Federation (Siberia), the Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine in 2000; and to Georgia, Malta, Moldova, the Russian Federation (North Caucasian region), Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom in 2001. Ten of the 14 reports were adopted according to the expedited procedure, under which draft visit reports circulated at least two weeks before a plenary session are adopted without debate, save for paragraphs in respect of which a discussion has been specifically requested in advance. The discussion tends to focus upon issues with implications for the CPT’s evolving standards. 13. In the course of 2001, the CPT’s working group on working methods proposed that a system of three sub-committees be introduced, each subcommittee to be closely involved in the visiting and reporting process in relation to one third of the Parties to the Convention. The underlying thinking was that an individual (and part time) CPT member cannot be expected to examine closely the situation concerning all aspects of deprivation of liberty in 40 or more States; for the object and purpose of the Convention to be met, individual Committee members must be placed in a position where they can focus their attention on a limited number of countries. After lengthy debate, the proposal made by the working group was rejected by a majority of the CPT’s members. However, the Committee recognised the need to place members in a position to make a more effective contribution to its activities; it therefore requested the working group to explore the possibility of assigning to visiting delegations or “advisory groups” a greater responsibility for the ongoing dialogue with specific States. Talks between CPT representatives and the national authorities were organised in Skopje in July 2001; they addressed the issue of the treatment of persons detained by the law enforcement agencies. Reference should also be made to a meeting held in Belfast in January 2001, organised at the proposal of the United Kingdom authorities. During that meeting, CPT representatives examined additional video material concerning a case referred to in the report on the Committee’s November/December 1999 visit to Northern Ireland (cf. CPT/Inf (2001) 6, paragraphs 25 to 27). Further, in line with standard practice, an information meeting on the CPT’s activities was organised in Tbilisi in January 2001, in preparation for the Committee’s first visit to Georgia later that year. 15. CPT representatives have continued to participate in meetings organised by intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, in order to speak about the Committee’s activities. The CPT is also very grateful to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for having invited its President to address the Standing Committee at its May 2001 meeting in Istanbul, in the context of the examination of two draft texts concerning the CPT’s work. The continuing close interest shown by the Assembly in the Committee’s activities is greatly appreciated.